Movie About Odessa Sniper Nominated for Six Oscars and Sets Record for Opening Weekend.

There’s a new movie directed by Clint Eastwood called “American Sniper” and stars Bradley Cooper who I have to say is looking rather nice and buff. This weekend, it's brought in $90.2 million in ticket sales to set a record for January. It talks about Chris Kyle who is the most successful American military sniper in history. After doing some research, I found out that Kyle was actually from here in the Permian Basin. Check out these five facts about our hometown hero!

1. He was born on April 8, 1974 in Odessa to a church deacon and a Sunday school teacher and grew up on a cattle ranch. And yes, Kyle was a big fan of the Dallas Cowboys.

2. He was a Navy Seal from 1999-2009 and had over 160 confirmed kills, making him the most successful sniper in American military history.

3. He was tough. He survived being shot twice and was involved in six IED attacks.

4. While in Iraq, insurgents used to call him the “Devil of Ramadi” and offered $80,000 for whoever could kill him. Kyle said in his book that he was afraid to go home at one point because he was worried his wife might turn him in.

5. There is some dispute as to whether he really socked Jesse Ventura in the face. In his book, Kyle talked about how he got mad that Ventura was reportedly disrespecting troops at a bar in California and after asking him to stop, Ventura said “You guys (Navy Seals) deserve to lose a few.” Kyle punched and knocked Ventura down and then left. Ventura has since denied that ever happened and even filed a lawsuit against Kyle for defamation.